From a practice session yesterday night…

As a saxophonist, it is such an honor to be a friend and neighbor to Roscoe Mitchell of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. He has been exceedingly prolific (just saying “prolific” isn’t enough!) in his lifetime writing, arranging, performing, conducting and teaching music. Anyone who has worked with Roscoe knows the phrase “the real deal” is an accurrate way of describing him.

You really can’t just call him a saxophonist, though he is huge on the horns. He does so much as a musician and artist that it really takes a while to fully understand what he does. For instance, one of his current projects is crafting two percussion instruments that involve over 100 bells, wood blocks and mini-drumheads that he plans to send to the New England Conservatory of Music where he’ll be visiting. He plans to compose and perform some pieces with their percussion staff while he is there. And that’s just one project…before he flies to LA to give a concert. I forgot to mention last year he performed all over the place, including Chicago, New York City, France, Spain, Prague, Vancouver, Mexico, Germany, Austria and a whole bunch of other places across the globe. (sorry, my jaw drops further…) Oh, and I forgot to mention he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and makes his home in Madison, Wisconsin.

Here’s a photo from yesterday when Roscoe stopped by my house. We stretched out a bit by playing Duke Ellington tunes from a Jamey Aebersold play-along CD. I got a nice lesson in Gershwin’s “rhythm changes” when we ran into Ellington’s “Cottontail”. I had so much fun. I love playing and I love learning. It was one of those moments that I’ll cherish for a long time.

Folks, once again I have the honor to play with Primitive Culture this Saturday evening at the Hody Bar in Middleton.

We played there a few months back and had a great show and a heck of a good time. Hope to see ya there!